College Email Correspondence

The nature of email is informal compared to standard business mail but it is important not to be too informal. The following are a few thoughts and suggestions regarding corresponding with colleges via email:

DO

• Remember that your email messages may be added to your admissions file.
• Choose an appropriate email address. You may want to rethink addresses like partygirl@hotmail.com or hatetostudy@yahoo.com.
• Give your full name, address, phone number, and high school in each message.
• Spell-check your email and use proper punctuation.
• Use salutations (for example, “Dear Admissions Officer”).
• Be as polite and respectful in an email as you would be in a face-to-face meeting or telephone conversation.
• Use the “reply with history” function to help schools remember the questions you asked in previous emails.
• Check the email address of the recipient before hitting the “send” button.
• Check the school’s website if you have a lot of questions before sending an email. If you still have specific questions, it is better to call the school and have an actual conversation.

DON’T

• Don’t use all lower or upper case letters. All lower case is difficult to read and all upper case can give the impression of SHOUTING!
• Don’t use “IMPORTANT INFORMATION” or “Please read” as subjects for your e-mail. These are commonly used for junk emails or viruses.
• Don’t use attachments. Schools are wary of attachments since they may carry computer viruses.
• Don’t send anything confidential in an e-mail. Emails are more like a postcard than a letter in a sealed envelope.
• Don’t send blanket emails to a lot of schools at once. Do some research and then ask questions indicating a genuine interest.